Defying Dominance (MxM) (18+)

8

Chapter 8: Daniel

We start practicing knots today, and I'm thrilled. Probably a little too thrilled, but I don't really care about that. I've been looking forward to this. Rook pauses in front of my desk with a box of multi-colored ropes. "Pick a color, Daniel."

"Green, please."

He hands me the dark green, then moves onto Jace. But Jace isn't looking, furiously tapping away at his iPad.

"Jace."

Jace jumps in his seat, eyes snapping up to meet Rook's. "Huh-Oh. Red. Yeah, red."

Rook hands him that color rope, frowning. "Are you alright? You seem distracted. More than usual."

Jace bites his lip a little, sighing. "I'm okay. Just a lot going on. Sorry." Jace flips his iPad case shut and starts fiddling with his small bundle of bondage rope. "I'll start paying more attention."

Rook nods and moves on.

I glance at Jace while I'm unrolling my own rope to start tying knots. He seems anxious. "Jace?"

"Huh?"

"You look stressed."

"Didn't sleep well last night," Jace mumbles. "Dad was throwing a party that went on until like 3 a.m."

"Knowing you had class today? That's sucky."

Jace shrugs and starts tying one of the knots at random, untying it, then doing it over. He's fumbling with it a little, hands twitching ever so slightly. He's not even really looking at what he's doing.

"After you all get some practice in, then I'll start having you all do them in order, checking each, and then going onto the next one," Rook says, putting the nearly empty box away.

Several minutes pass quietly, and then Jace's phone starts vibrating on the table, making him drop his rope.

"Sorry," he says, snatching up his phone to silence it. His frown deepens as he stares at the screen. "...shit," he hisses, standing up. "Sorry, it's important." And out the door he goes, one hand raking through his hair as he answers the phone.

"Okay, then," Rook says, shrugging. "Start with a figure-eight knot."

I wonder what that's all about. I wonder, starting on the knot. I hope he's okay.

Class goes on, with Rook checking out our work each time and giving us feedback, and Jace doesn't come back.

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Jace looks exhausted when he wanders into Communication ten minutes late, slumping into his seat and letting his bag- which he had apparently gotten from Rook's classroom- fall on the floor. He doesn't even get out his iPad.

But the teacher is in the middle of a lesson, so I can't ask him what's up right now. I keep looking at him between taking my notes, frowning. His nose looks puffy, and his eyes are a little red. Has he been crying?

"Even if your sub is incapable of speaking at any given moment, you should also discuss nonverbal ways of communication. Tapping, snapping, holding some sort of object that makes noise when dropped. I personally have my sub snap a different number of snaps correlating to the stop-light system."

I write that down, even though I already know it. I like having very organized and thorough notes.

Jace doesn't leave as soon as class ends, he just kind of sits there, staring blankly ahead as everyone else leaves. The teacher looks at him, then at me, and I wave her off, mouthing 'I'll talk to him.' She steps outside, and I gently tap Jace's shoulder.